Currently, various systems are in place to perform settlement between financial institutions (e.g., banks) following a purchase or other transaction. Such systems include the Automated Clearing House (ACH) and the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) network. For example, a customer may attempt to make a purchase from a merchant. A system may check the customer's bank to see if the customer's specified account holds available funds to cover the transaction. If so, the transaction may be approved. The customer's account may be debited, and a settlement process may later be performed to move the appropriate funds from the customer's bank to the merchant's bank. However, the systems currently in use may not be well suited to a modern, online economy in which transactions are increasing in frequency. In particular, the existing systems may be costly, cumbersome, and overly reliant on third parties. The cost of using existing system may be large due to the transaction fees and the overhead costs paid to third parties to ensure security of payments.